April born people are no strangers to envy with their independent, courageous and exciting nature but their most envious trait possibly lies in their birthstone...

Birthstone Spotlight: April - Diamond

Represents: love, glamour, timelessness, strength

April born people are no strangers to envy with their independent, courageous and exciting nature but their most envious trait possibly lies in their birthstone- the diamond. The word diamond is derived from the Ancient Greek word adámas meaning proper, unbreakable, untamed and unaltered- a perfect match for the fiery and headstrong individuals of April.

The hardest and often most expensive gemstone, diamonds arguably hold the title of the world's most popular stone. Nowadays you can find diamonds in every colors of the rainbow but for those born in April, its bright and classic white diamonds that most illuminates their personality and matches their virtues. Other stones may try to compete but there's just something about the diamond that stands out, and begs to be noticed.

Did You Know?

Billions of years in the making…

Diamonds possess the greatest hardness and heat conductivity of any material on Earth. The ones you find on the fingers on newly engaged women or in your favorite heirloom piece were originally formed over the course of billions of years at extremely high temperatures and pressures at approximately 100 miles into the Earth’s mantle. These precious stones then emerge on the earth’s surface through volcanic eruptions of magma. When this lava cools it forms into igneous rock called either kimberlites or lamproites. These rocks are the magic source of where searchers of the globe find diamonds.

India for the win!

Diamonds are thought to be first acknowledged and mined in India at least 3,000 years ago! It was there along the Krishna, Penner and Godavari rivers that rock deposits containing diamonds were discovered. Eventually diamonds were later found in Brazil, becoming history’s second hotspot.

Not all diamonds are created equal.

In order to distinguish the difference between various diamonds, gemologists have developed a grading system to measure the most important characteristics of a stone- famously known as the four C’s: carat, cut, clarity, and color. The first “C” carat refers to the weight of the diamond. The second “C” cut measures the quality of the cut in terms of symmetry, proportion and other factors. The third “C” clarity grades how free of inclusions (trapped particles) the stone is and the fourth “C” color measures how “colorless” a white diamond is or the intensity of color found in a colored diamond.

How do you take your diamonds?

Nowadays the diamond serves as the ultimate symbol of luxury, adornment, and beauty. With a shape and color to fit any preference, this gemstone also has the ability to be anything the wearer desires. Shapes of diamonds vary from round to square, heart to pear while colors can range depending on the exposure the stone receives from foreign minerals and particulates during its growth process. Diamonds that possess trace elements of boron are rendered blue, to nitrogen become yellow, and exposure to radiation are destined to be green. Gemologist maintain that a perfect diamond should have no color, but we’ll take them all!

Cirque Bits - Diamond Facts

In Sanskrit, the word for diamond is “vajira” which translates to “thunderbolt.”

Mirror, mirror, who’s the rarest one of all? Red is the rarest diamond color. Blue diamonds hold the spot of the second rarest.

Diamonds are composed of nearly 100% carbon. Get me a carbon copy!

The largest diamond of record weighed in at 3,106 carats. Imagine that on your finger!

Buy domestic? The US is the largest consumer of diamonds and yet has little-to-no diamond production with only one mine in Arkansas.

Today approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds are found in Africa. More than 38,000 people in Southern Africa are employed by the diamond industry. Beauty with a cause!

Lunch is on him- Chow Tai Fook made the biggest diamond purchase in history in 2010, purchasing a 507 carat stone for $35.3 million.

With this ring… The first recorded instance of a diamond engagement ring occurred in 1477- a gift from the Archduke of Austria, Maximilian III to his love Mary of Burgundy. Swoon!

Not just a pretty face! Ancient cultures believed diamonds to have many powers and associations including protection from danger and disease as well as the bestowal of strength and courage.

Love is in the air! Cupid’s arrows are said to be tipped with diamonds- we always knew diamonds were a girl’s best friend!

Approximately only 20% of the world’s diamonds are suitable for jewelry- talk about picky! The remaining percentage are utilized in industrial applications including cutting, polishing, grinding, and drilling.

Statistics show a rise in the percentage of women buying diamonds for themselves. Who runs the world? Girls!

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! Experts say diamonds are not only found on Earth but also on Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. In 2004 astronomers even discovered what they believe to be a carbon planet made of diamonds- dubbed 55 Cancri e. Get us on the first flight!

“When I got this ring, I was seventeen and thin-thin-thin,” Evie said, with a laugh. She showed off a beautiful carved gemstone ring, handcrafted in Bali. “I wore it every day, everywhere. When I went off to college, I wore this ring. When I met my husband Ramon, I was wearing this ring. I even wore it when I walked down the aisle at our wedding.” She smiled at the memory. “A great piece of jewelry can become part of who you are.”

Evie was thrilled to start her family with Ramon. “We weren’t counting on twins, but what can you do? Life is full of surprises.” One surprise that wasn’t quite as delightful was the weight Evie gained during the pregnancy. “I knew my belly would get big, but my feet? My fingers? I couldn’t even wear my ring.”

She’d hoped to be able to slip her Cirque Jewels ring back on after her twins were born, but things didn’t work out that way. “Even though I lost most of the weight, my body has changed. And one of those changes was in my fingers.”

Luckily, Evie didn’t have to give up wearing her signature Cirque Jewels gemstone ring. “They offer free sizing for life! I called them up, let them know what the situation was, and they said, “Send it in, we’ll take care of it for you – easy as that, no questions asked!” Today, the ring’s slightly larger than it used to be, “and every bit as beautiful!” Evie said. “I’m so happy to be able to wear it again!”

Enjoy Free Sizing for Life with Cirque Jewels

Life is full of surprises. Pregnancy, medical issues, and life in general can result in us gaining weight or losing weight – either of which can mean your ring doesn’t fit quite the way you’d like it to. But you don’t have to give up your jewelry or risk losing it: Cirque Jewels offers free sizing for life.

If you need your ring made smaller or larger, just get in touch and we’ll walk you through the process so you can enjoy wearing your Cirque Jewels ring once again. It’s our way of saying Thanks for choosing Cirque Jewels!

CirqueJewels.com Repairs and Sizes Your Jewelry....for FREE!!

Hello Everyone,

I would like to share something with you that you may not know about CirqueJewels.com. We gladly repair or size your existing jewelry for Free.

We have two expert jewelers on our premises who have been with us for over twenty years and are excellent at their craft. Their experience is in silver, gold and silver with gold accented jewelry set in gemstones and diamonds.

In order to size or repair your jewelry free of charge we ask that you purchase anything on our site and once we receive your item needing repair Cirque will ship the repair along with your new jewelry. You can purchase anything from our site at any price and we will do the repair.

You may think that nothing is ever totally free (and you are right to think so) but think of the incentive you are getting from this promotion. If you find an item on the site that you like and happen to have an item that is in disrepair or longer fits your finger, we can restore the value of your jewelry in your collection all while receiving a new item to add to your collection!

If you would like more details about this generous offer, please call us at 866-424-0011 or email info@cirquejewels.com. We always like to talk and hear from you.

Why People Wear Jewelry

Wearing jewelry has been a tradition since ancient times. In those times, jewelry was worn mainly by royal, higher class women as a means of showing wealth and power and also represented a sense of prosperity in civilization.

But what has this ancient custom become today?

Today, the most obvious answer is to show off wealth or to make a fashion statement.

But are there different reasons?

One reason may be to remind someone of a special time, special place or special someone. Or one can use jewelry as a means of creativity, an art just as people paint. Jewelry can also serve as a representation of one’s culture.

All of these reasons boil down to self-expression, the want to portray one’s self as one of a kind. Any reason to wear jewelry comes down to individualism, how an individual wants to portray himself. So why do you wear jewelry? That’s for you to decide.

Cirque Jewels to start displaying product video

Today I am happy to mention that we are posting video for our collection styles. We place a significant amount of time and detail listing our jewelry (particularly in our photography) to make sure we are listing a product accurately and as detailed as possible.

To help our customers make their jewelry buying decisions we have a 800 number so you can call us with any questions or requests. Cirque Jewels also has a 60 day no questions asked return policy so if you are unsatisfied with your purchase, you can send it back. Despite our efforts, sometimes it is difficult to portray on a computer the true beauty of our jewelry despite a detailed description and beautiful photograph.

To help with your purchasing decisions, we are starting to roll out product videos that display our jewelry in a 360 degree perspective, giving the viewer a better idea of the style they are interested in. The team at Cirque Jewels is truly excited about this new feature roll out and we will be continuously adding videos on a regular basis.

We place a significant amount of time and detail listing our jewelry (particularly in our photography) to make sure we are listing a product accurately and as detailed as possible. Today I am happy to mention that we are displaying video for our collection styles. We place a significant amount of time and detail listing our jewelry (particularly in our photography) to make sure we are listing a product accurately and as detailed as possible. A couple of links below are of the some of the first videos we have created. Our ultimate goal is to produce full length shows and programming about out jewelry which we feel will be entertaining and informative about our collections and who Cirque Jewels is about. Stay tuned and visit regularly to see what new video we produce.

The Tiffany Epiphany

Valentine's Day- a day full of love, flowers, candy grams, and lawsuits.

On February 14th 2013, Tiffany & Co. sued the wholesale giant Costco over alleged copyright infringement. Costco was selling the signature six-pronged round diamond engagement rings that are better known as "Tiffany" rings. The question is, do the quotation marks belong on either side of the name Tiffany or not? Costco clearly used the name "Tiffany" on the sign used for the ring, which you would think is the epitome of copyright infringement, but they're claiming that it's a generic term and therefore the allegations are not applicable. A popular example of this would be the word "Band-Aid" which is used in place of the word bandage or plaster. Even though Band-Aid is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson, it became a universal generic term. Unfortunately for Tiffany, their products don't exactly cost less than $5, so this packs a much bigger wallop financially for them.

In more recent news, there was a federal court ruling in New York on January 17th 2014 in continuation of the lawsuit against Costco and Costco's counterclaim against Tiffany & Co. In the ruling, it said there is a "genuine factual dispute as to whether the terms “Tiffany” and/or “Tiffany Setting” have a primarily generic meaning,"* thus Tiffany & Co.'s motion to dismiss the counterclaim by Costco was denied. They are set to reconvene one final time on June 27th.